Who do I like? I am a big fan of French and Saunders - not that that they are particularly stand-up I have to say, but I think they have been great for women and they are of themselves just incredibly funny whether they are male or female.

In this remark Jo Brand distinguishes between “stand-up” as a specific comedy form and broader comic performance, while still expressing admiration for the duo French and Saunders. She credits them with widening cultural space for women in comedy—suggesting their impact is not only in jokes but in visibility, authority, and precedent. Brand also resists gender-essentialist praise: she finds them “incredibly funny whether they are male or female,” implying that comedic excellence should not be treated as a special category when performed by women. The quote therefore balances feminist recognition of structural barriers with an insistence on judging comedy by craft and effect rather than by the performer’s gender.